Johanna's+Portfolio

=**My Reflective Portfolio:**=

__**Table of Contents**__

 * 1) Letter of Introduction
 * 2) Essential Question #1
 * 3) Artifacts
 * 4) Essential Question #2
 * 5) Artifacts
 * 6) Essential Question #3
 * 7) Artifacts
 * 8) References

**Letter of Introduction:**
Dear Reader,

Looking back at the beginning of this semester, I was extremely excited about taking this course. I knew I was going to learn about language, rules, and how to teach those rules to adolescents. I also knew I would explore how your foundation could have an effect on who you are as a student. From the start, I already knew I was going to learn many different rules and aspects of literacy I was unfamiliar with. I came into class excited to learn, because I knew that I could implement everything in my own classroom.

This was also my first year as a teacher and I was completely overwhelmed. I hoped that being active as a student would help me through this school year. I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn and this was going to be a challenging semester. Early on during this course I was presented with words I was unfamiliar with: phonology, syntax, pragmatics, morphology, among others. As the professor went over them, I started putting pieces of the puzzle together and I understood how it all worked. These were words defining things I had already heard of before, but now I could put a name to these "things."

Weeks went on, and as I explored my own points of tension I realized, language is complex. I submitted writing to my professor and she would make suggestions to improve my writing. Each time I received an assignment back with revisions I would make corrections and re-submit, but it was more than re-submitting. I was learning important grammar rules and I was realizing my own writing needed to improve. How can I be a "good" teacher without first working on my own writing. I need to become aware of my own mistakes in order to teach my students how to improve their own writing. I learned the "P" rules, which I am still working on. I also learned that students enjoy learning when you sprinkle in aspects of their own diverse backgrounds into daily lessons. I need to use the connection I have with my students, being Latina, as a tool to help them learn. I have the advantage of coming from the same background as my students and instead of ignoring that I need to embrace it.

Moving forward I plan to continue to work on my own writing. I plan to continue revising my work, looking for comma splices and "p" rules. I want to become comfortable with grammar, so that I could better serve my students. I truly believe that with work and experience I will become the teacher I hope to be. I am driven by the desire to help my students overcome the stereotypes society has created for them. Through speech and writing we can overcome those stereotypes and move across obstacles presented.

Sincerely,

Johanna